Top hat
by planet p
Summary: AU; Bobby meets Jarod’s little sister, Emily, in 1973.
1. Chapter 1

**Top hat **by planet p

**Disclaimer **I don't own 'the Pretender' or any of its characters.

**Author's Notes** Second, and last, title name change. Title loosely inspired by the title of Dr. Seuss' _The Cat in the Hat_, for no particular reason (perhaps excepting that it is a children's picture book). Horizontal rulers inserted to improve formatting.

* * *

**1973**

Bobby sighed and turned away from the chalk board out front of the grocery store, having just finished writing up the new prices. He shook his head. Other thirteen-year-old kids got to play sport, they didn't have to work afternoons in no dumb groc'ry store. He scowled. It was just his luck his old man was fucked up and his mother prayed each night for her swift death. He had heard her once. Needless to say, he never listened at walls again.

Upon re-entering the store, he halted abruptly as a four-year-old girl dashed out in front of him, chasing her toy car across the concrete entrance way. The little girl froze and turned. Her car continued racing across the floor and got lost under one of the shelves. Her big brown eyes blinked up at him curiously and her hand came up to her chest. "What?"

Bobby frowned and turned to look behind him. He shrugged, unable to find anything that may interest the little kid. He frowned and shook his head, uncomprehending.

The little girl pulled a sticky finger from her mouth and pointed to the piece of chalk clutched safely in his hand. "What?"

He sighed, slouching. "It's chalk. And it's not for little kiddies to be playing with," he stated matter-of-factly.

"Whys?"

Bobby blinked, confused. He tossed his head to one side and straightened up. "Just cos."

It was the child's turn to blink stupidly. "Bus whys?"

"Just cos! Geez, girlie, what's so hard to understand about 'jus' cos'?"

The little girl rolled her eyes. "M' 'Nday."

Bobby frowned. What was she raving about now? "What?"

The girl pointed to herself. "M' 'Nday. Day say 'Nday. M' 'Nday."

Bobby nodded slowly and then it dawned on him. "Oh."

"'O?"

"Bobby," Bobby introduced himself.

"'Bay?"

Bobby sighed. "Good enough."

The little girl sighed.

"Emmy?" came a woman's voice from the cash register.

Bobby looked up to see a woman with matching brown eyes and crimped red hair.

The little girl turned and stumbled forward. Bobby offered her his hand. The girl took his hand without question and the pair walked up to the counter.

The woman's eyes fell on Bobby and she frowned. "May!" the little girl exclaimed.

"Hi!" Bobby gave a little wave.

The woman's frown remained. "Hello?"

"I'm Bobby. I, um, work here… too… that is…" He blushed, falling short and looked to his school shoes.

The woman nodded, moving around the counter to pick up her baby girl. "Maggie."

Bobby shot her a tiny smile from the floor and felt the little girl's sticky hand tugged from his own as she was hoisted up onto her mother's hip. "Well… see you… then…"

Maggie nodded and returned to her cashier duties. "Now, Emily, what has Mummy told you about wandering off?" she reprimanded her little girl.

Emily looked away from her mother and shot Bobby a big baby smile.

* * *

Bobby spent the rest of the week stocking shelves and changing price tags. He was knelt down before the fruit juice shelf attempting to change a price tag, roll of sticky tape stuck in his mouth, when a prod in the back made him turn suddenly.

Emily's big brown eyes blinked back at him wetly. "'Ar?"

Bobby scrambled to his haunches and frowned, tilting his head oddly. "What?"

The little girl plonked herself down on the floor and semi-closed her hand, running it along the floor, hovering inches above the concrete. "'Ar?"

Bobby sniffed. "Oh. Car?"

Emily nodded. "'Ar."

He pointed. "It went that way. Got stuck under one of those shelves. See there? The ones with the fruit."

Emily blinked sadly.

Bobby frowned. "You want me to get it?" He gaped at what he had said. He could have kicked himself one good, but not in front of the little girl.

Emily looked up from examining her empty hands hopefully.

He had done it now. It was only polite to uphold one's offers. He didn't want to shame his family name. "Cos I can if you want. It's no trouble, really."

The little girl smiled suddenly, clapping her hands excitedly. "'Ar!"

Bobby got to his feet and took her hand, marching off across the room as though he was going on a bear hunt or the likes. "Let's go get your racing car, yeah?"

"'Ar!"

* * *

Bobby smiled to himself, watching the little girl with her cars. Emily growled and ripped at her rainbow scrunchies. The little girl was interrupted in her task by a sudden squeal and then she was lifted off her feet and high into the air. The dark-haired woman pulled the child to her chest and twirled around gracefully. "Mimi. Mimi. Mimi."

Emily giggled.

The woman began to dance to the music playing over the radio, singing softly as she did. "My sweet Mimi. My ,oh, my. My sweet Mimi. Mimi is the delight of her mama. Mimi, sweet Mimi, with the little brown eyes like the goddess divine, and hair as ruby as Salem's flame. Oh sweet sugar Mimi."

Maggie rushed over on her heels wobbly. "Sonya!"

The dark-haired woman snuggled Emily close to her, pressing her face into her hair. Her deep blue eyes lifted from the child's hair to Maggie's face. "Hallo Maggie. Look who I found – Mimi." She turned back to the little girl and lifted her into the air once more. "Mimi. Mimi. Mimi."

"Sonya!" Maggie screamed. "You're going to make her sick! For Heaven's sake, Sonya!"

Sonya's radiant smile vanished as her eyes dropped to the floor in shame. She placed the little girl safely back on her feet.

Maggie dropped to her knees and hugged her daughter close to her. Sonya walked off to finish her cleaning. Maggie was now inspecting her daughter at arm's length, as though for possible damage.

Bobby got back to his work in case anyone saw him slacking. His Da wouldn't be very happy if he got fired or nothing.

* * *

Bobby bought crayons and paper he had nicked from school. He was going to teach Emily about numbers, his favourite of all things in the whole wide world. Numbers never lied. How could they? Numbers were always so very pretty, so very perfect and elegant. Yes, he had always like numbers better than anything else.

Bobby sat cross-legged beside the fruit shelf where Emily usually played with her cars. The little girl imitated him exactly, holding out her hands. He touched her thumb. "One." Then her index finger. "Two." And her middle finger. "Three."

Emily blinked slowly, touching her own fingers in much the same fashion.

"Very good. Let's go again. Then maybe tomorrow we can count too, yeah?"

* * *

Maggie watched from the cash register and wondered about the boy. She had seen the bruises. They were always there, just hidden. They never went away. She never said nothing. She couldn't risk it. So she just wondered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Top hat** by planet p

**Disclaimer **I don't own 'the Pretender' or any of its characters.

* * *

**1974**

Emily was in school now. Not the same school as Bobby because he was in high school, but she always told him about her numbers and the plants. She said she liked plants. She especially liked talking to them when she was sad. She told Bobby they reminded her of him. They never told her to go away because she wasn't grown-up enough. They never gave her those looks, impatience with a pang of annoyance.

* * *

"Milly, sweetie?" Maggie called out to her five-year-old.

Emily grumbled and looked up from the game of noughts and crosses she was playing on the window in the soap bubbles. Sonya busied herself with washing the rest of the window before ruining the children's game. Emily hated it when her mummy called her by Milly. "Comeeng, mummay!" She turned back to the window and marked an 'o' in one of the unused boxes, swiftly drawing a cross across her victory. "I win." She shot Bobby a superior smile and bounded off over to her mother.

Bobby frowned, shaking his head, and walked off as well.

* * *

Emily sat cross-legged in the middle of the aisle, watching absently as Bobby set about changing the price tags. She frowned for a moment, twitching her nose. "Bay?"

Bobby didn't turn at the interruption. "Yeah?"

"Do you hayf gir-w-fraynd?"

Bobby snorted, rolling his grey eyes. "Fat chance, Minda."

Bobby remembered that she had told him that her Daddy always called her his little Indian brave, but lately he had taken to shortening it to Indie. Seeing as how Emily would have kicked him one if he even so much as tried calling her Milly, Bobby had decided on Mindy instead, but sometimes he shortened it to Minda. Emily never minded much. She just gave him that look that said she thought him immature and she rather he didn't butch her name in such a manner.

Emily pursed her lips and put on her best reprimanding frown. A moment later she yawned and stretched her arms out wide. "C' I bay gir-w-fraynd?"

Bobby blinked and actually turned to meet her eyes. "My girlfriend?" he asked incredulously.

Emily nodded, smiling hopefully. "Zeen way geet marrayed aynd geet prettay reeng." She looked down at her left hand as though she could already imagine the ring there.

Bobby laughed. Taking a sobering breath, he looked her directly in the eye. "No. You're far too young," he replied flatly.

Emily twitched her nose again before crossing her arms resolutely across her chest and turning her head away from him.

Bobby just shook his head and smiled.

* * *

Bobby woke in the night as he did most every night, only this time he knew the dream had been different. Shaking his head, he scolded himself mentally. "Just a nightmare, Bobby," he whispered deathly quiet. He lay back down and shut his eyes. "Go back to sleep."

* * *

Bobby sighed and brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, tucking it safely behind his ear. Maggie was leant against the wall, chatting on the phone. Bobby wondered whether she had noticed it or not, but she had developed quite a habit of twirling her finger absently in the cord. She was smiling however and it was a very different smile to the ones she gave Emily and Sonya.

Emily stood beside her mother, head leant against her stomach. The little girl opened her eyes and caught Bobby watching her. He frowned enquiring. Emily mouthed "Dadday".

Bobby smiled back and wondered if his mother had ever been that happy with his father. He sighed. It would have to have been before he was born. Children ruined everything. His mother always said so.

* * *

The dreams only got worse, and instead of lie back down, Bobby sat with his knees drawn up to his chest and his hands over his ears. He couldn't hear her screams. He couldn't think how very scared she was.

* * *

Bobby stood outside with Emily, writing up the updated prices on the blackboards. Emily sat on the concrete with her legs crossed good and proper like she had been taught in school, drawing a picture of a car with the piece of chalk Bobby had given her when he had snapped his new piece in half.

She had been sad about the piece of chalk getting broken but Bobby had assured her that the chalk didn't mind. She had smiled then and Bobby had thought he had never seen such a beautiful smile.

It was even more beautiful than his mama's smile, and that was saying a lot because she never smiled except in photographs on the mantel over the fire. He liked the ones of his mama best, but there were one of his da too. He never looked at them too long but. His mama always scolded him if he did and he was sent to bed without any dinner.

Children must always observe the proper manners, she told him. Children were to be domesticated. They, after all, were people and not animals. But sometimes Bobby wondered what he was. Sometimes he even wished he wasn't a person at all. Animals who would not be domesticated got shot. That was just the way of things. They didn't have to get up and go to school in the morning like everything was all well and good.

The little girl was interrupted by a jeer behind her. She scrambled to her feet, brushing down her dusty skirt with her tiny hands, and turned to see what the commotion was about.

"Oi! You the little tramp who hit my kid brother?" the ten-year-old scowled.

Emily nodded fervently. "Yees! I heet brovvar. Brovvar zerve heet. Not keel freends!" The little girl raised her chin in defiance, tossing her head back.

The boy rolled his eyes and began to walk off, dragging his little brother after him. That retard wasn't worth the breath.

The little boy broke free from his brother's grasp. "They're just bleeding ants. They don't feel pain you spastic!"

Emily growled and lurched forward. "You jus' bleedeeng 'umeen! Not feel pain!"

Bobby turned to see the ten-year-old dragging Emily off his brother as she attempted to bite him, scowling viciously. But the little boy wasn't giving up that easily.

The next thing Bobby knew the ten-year-old was sprawled on the concrete with a bloody nose, his palms bleeding where they had scraped on the pavement. The little boy froze, his eyes wide in horror.

The ten-year-old scrambled to his feet and grabbed for his little brother, shooting Bobby a disgusted look. "You're bloody crazy, you know that man? Fucked up!" With that he whisked away around the corner and disappeared from sight.

Emily simply stood there and blinked. After a moment Bobby went back to his job, his chest heaving a little too much. Emily resumed her drawings. Bobby wondered if she knew ants didn't drive cars, not in real life, only in Disney.

* * *

Bobby sighed heavily. He would have to keep better watch of her next time. He wouldn't let them take her. He would die before that happened.

* * *

Every day it got worse. He had stopped concentrating on his school work. He had almost very nearly been sent to the headmaster's office. But he couldn't stop the voices in his head.

It was then that he knew that he had to take her away. She would miss her mama but at least she would be safe. If they got her then that was the end. No, he couldn't let them take her.

He would simply have to write a Maggie a nice long letter explaining that he had no other choice. But then, he didn't know if he could trust Maggie either. Sure, she was the kid's mother. Sure, she always smiled when she saw her baby and she never scowled and hissed nasty things under her breath. But he had to be sure, and he wasn't, not anymore.

No, he would have to skip the letter idea. What if they got their hands on it? No, he would not write a letter.

* * *

Emily looked up from their clasped hands and frowned. "Where goeeng, Bay?"

Bobby smiled down at the little girl as he waited for the cars to pass so that they could cross the road. "Do you like ice-cream, Minda?"

Emily grinned toothily and nodded. "Like veray much!"

"Well, that's where we're going."

Emily smiled happily and began to hum to herself. It was moment until she looked up, a tiny frowned creasing her brow. "What May aynd Yar?"

"Grown-ups don't eat ice-cream," he explained, "it's bad for their teeth."

Emily blinked slowly. "Cream!"

Bobby smiled. "That's right, ice-cream."

* * *

Bobby knelt down and fiddled with some wires. Emily licked her ice-cream happily. "Car!"

Bobby frowned and looked across at her, then he went around to fix her seat belt around her. "All good!"

Emily nodded, licking her melting ice-cream. "All good!" she mimicked enthusiastically.

* * *

Emily clapped when he finally got the car to start, splatting ice-cream across the dash and windscreen.

Bobby gave her the thumbs up. "We all set?"

"Seet!"

"Alright, here we go, reverse."

Emily squealed happily as the car suddenly lurched backwards. "Verse!"

* * *

Bobby shivered and tried not to think about the pain. He should have known better. But it didn't matter anymore. Emily was gone now. Her mama had left. Bobby hoped they stayed gone for good. Maybe Emily was going to see her daddy? Bobby smiled at this thought. Emily always got so excited when her daddy rang. For now she was safe.

The voices were quiet now, but Bobby knew they wouldn't stay that way long. He gazed around the shed and sighed. His eyes closed and he tried to get some sleep. He began to hum Emily's little song Sonya had made up for her.


End file.
